Practically Perfect in Every Way: Zion National Park with NomiAnn

Full-speed procrastiblogging here!  I could be folding laundry or sorting paper piles or heaven help me, cleaning out some drawers.  (At the moment, practically every drawer in the house is so crammed and disorganized that you have to shove them shut.)  On the other hand, I could be downstairs watching Pirates of the Caribbean with everyone else, so I guess I'll feel quasi-virtuous instead.  (The truth is that there's just no more room to sit in our snug TV room since Brooklyn's friends are here as well.)

Several weeks ago, it was snug quarters in the minivan when NomiAnn joined our family for a long car ride.  Annika was so delighted to have NomiAnn close that she insisted on being told stories about pink dolphins.

Our destination?  Zion National Park.  Not to brag or anything, but this was the view from our hotel balcony.  Alas, no dolphins in the pond.

When it came to accommodations, we certainly lucked out.  We managed to secure a $109 room at Springhill Suites, then got upgraded to an even better suite since they were remodeling.

Yup, that made us pretty happy.

Jason and his cute breakfast date.

Warming up at the faux fire.

Our first adventure was a snowy hike along the East Rim trail.  Beautiful and fun.

So glad you could be with us, NomiAnn!  Can you tell that we miss you?

As the youngest, Annika's definitely been spoiled with piggy back rides far longer than her siblings.

Snow's getting deeper...

Before long, the trail became challenging enough that we decided to call it quits and turn around.  That made our Mr. Eli pretty happy.

Pausing for a few photos on the way back.  Thanks for joining us on our crazy adventures NomiAnn!

And now for the pièce de résistance: lunch.

On Sunday morning we went to church, then headed up the Canyon Overlook Trail.  While you certainly get lots of bang for your buck with this mile-long trail, it was busy.

The view from the top.

A few of our favorite shots.

As much fun as the hike was, I'm sure the kids enjoyed the time we spent waving to all the cars as they passed even more.

But were we done hiking for the day?  Heck no.  After our honk and wave break, we explored this magnificent little draw just northwest of Zion's little tunnel.

Jason and the three youngest kids all decided to climb up and explore a bit more.

Meanwhile, NomiAnn and I amused ourselves by taking selfies.  NomiAnn looks happy to be experiencing Zion in all new ways.

Even though we were getting tired, we ended our day with the Riverside Walk from the Temple of Sinawava to the Narrows.  The mule deer kept us company.

Glad to revisit this place with such special memories from years past.

Back in the hotel, Talia decided to entertain herself by stealing my phone.  This kid is one of a kind!

Monday morning dawned chilly and snowy.  With snow clogging the roads all the way to Salt Lake, we thought about extending our stay but Marriott wouldn't extend our steal-of-a-deal price.  So we waited out the snowstorm a bit by heading down to St. George for some rappelling.  Here we are at the Chuckwalla trail head, just a mile away from our old home.

Even though it was freezing, Annika had fun exploring.

Actually, all the kids did.

When it came to rappelling, the oldest two headed down the rock face in expert fashion.  Here's Brooklyn at the top...

...and Tally at the bottom.

Eli and Annika, on the other hand, discovered that throwing yourself off the edge of a cliff can be terrifying.  At first Eli kept repeating over and over how he did not want to do this.

In the end, Jason hooked up and descended right beside him so they could walk through it all side by side.  Eli's still not too happy about the adventure at this point.

And here he is just a moment later, after gaining some confidence.  In the end, he had a great experience and chose to go down again.  You know, as a parent, it's hard to know how hard to push your children.  You certainly don't want to traumatize them by forcing them to stretch too far too soon.  At the same time, sometimes they need a lot encouragement and a pretty big nudge before they realize they are capable of much more than they ever thought possible.  It was a tough judgment call, but in this case, Eli's smile of accomplishment was reassurance that we'd made a good choice.

The story was similar with Annika.  Before going over the edge, she kept saying, "Wait, I need to think, I need to think."  Frankly, Annika seems so ruled by impulse and action that I was surprised.  I guess I'm glad that she has some fear after all.

After much patient coaching by Jason, she finally got it, bouncing the rest of the way down the wall.

Annika too wanted to go down once more, but we told her that she would need to wait until next time.  We were frozen.

The drive home was long and snowy, but much better than it could have been had we left earlier.  NomiAnn, thank you so much for spending this weekend in Zion with us.  We had such a great time sharing the things we love most with you.  To quote Mary Poppins, I'd say our President's Day getaway was practically perfect in every way.